Earlier, Zhang Yan learned that reinforcements from Jizhou had arrived and would launch an attack at any time, so he asked someone to call Yang Feng to discuss how to respond. He went around the subject and just said that the generals of Hebei had arrived and that Yang Feng was necessary if they wanted to resist the attack.
As he spoke, he noticed that Yang Feng's complexion was not as good as before. Even his body, which was usually straight, seemed to be slightly hunched. For a moment, he hesitated and was unable to continue.
Yang Feng did not refuse, but said, "I will be the vanguard tomorrow, it doesn't matter."
"But does the General think that the Black Mountain Army can really stop the Jizhou Army?"
Zhang Yan naturally knew the truth. The army had begun to run out of food in the past few days, and many soldiers could only find ways to get some strange things to eat from various sources. If this continued, the Black Mountain Army would collapse without a fight within ten days.
Zhang Yan also sent people to attack the enemy's grain storage, but the enemy general was guarding it very tightly, and the Black Mountain Army tried several times but failed.
Now, the result of the war of attrition he had previously envisioned with the Jizhou Army ended with the Black Mountain Army running out of food first.
Zhang Yan said, "Captain Yang, we can no longer stay in Black Mountain."
"In tomorrow's battle, if we can kill the enemy's general or even the commander, we might still have a chance of survival."
"If we are defeated, we will have no choice but to withdraw from Montenegro immediately. We may be able to make a comeback in the future."
Yang Feng frowned and said, "Let's go, where are we going?"
Zhang Yan sighed, "We can't go to Bingzhou. With so many people, even if we go to join the Southern Xiongnu, they may not be willing."
"So I want to escape to the southwest and enter Hedong."
"That was originally the territory of the White Wave Army, but the White Wave Army was dispersed and now there is no one controlling it, which gives the Black Mountain Army an opportunity."
"If we can occupy Hedong, we can wait for an opportunity to present a petition to the imperial court in the future, and we may be able to gain support from the Han court again."
Yang Feng frowned and said, "Does the General still want to trust the unjust Han court?"
"We joined the Han court for expediency in the beginning. Over the years, we have been working to change the world. Huang Tian is above, and Qing Tian will replace Huang Tian!"
"Now the General of the Central Army has brought his men to surrender to the Han court. Are they going to work for them?"
Zhang Yan's face darkened when he heard this, and he said unhappily, "Captain Yang, the world has changed!"
"Didn't you also admit that Envoy Cao was the one who carried on the will of the Heavenly Master?"
"Even if we want to change the world, we have to do it step by step. Now we need to rely on the Han court to restore our strength. What's more, we can't even protect ourselves now!"
"Captain, do you know how much pressure I have to bear in order to feed hundreds of thousands of mouths if I don't surrender to the Han court and become an enemy of the Yuan family?"
Yang Feng was silent.
After a long while, she stared at Zhang Yan and said, "I understand."
"If you, Lord Zhonglangjiang, still have Huang Tian in your heart, I am willing to go through fire and water without hesitation."
Yang Feng's gaze was so sharp that Zhang Yan unconsciously looked away and said, "Captain Yang, please be at ease."
Yang Feng nodded. "Nothing else. I'll take my leave now."
Seeing Yang Feng turning around, Zhang Yan couldn't help but said, "Taiping Qing received the letter."
Yang Feng turned around suddenly and said, "General, this is the last time I will say this to you."
"The Taiping Qingling Book is nothing special."
"The martial arts in it are all evil ways that harm the body and shorten lifespan. They are not suitable for practice."
Zhang Yan stood up excitedly after hearing this, "But I can't figure out the secret hidden in the Qingling book!"
"Since the death of the Heavenly Master, our connection with Huang Tian has been cut off!"
"If there is no way to communicate with Huang Tian in the Qingling book, how can we know how the Heavenly Master communicated with Huang Tian in the first place?"
"How do we know if the Heavenly Master is lying to us?"
Yang Feng paused, "I don't know either."
Then she left without looking back.
Zhang Yan stood on the ground in a daze, with a look of confusion and struggle in his eyes.
She doesn't know either?
So what is true and what is false?
After all these years, was the Yellow Turban Rebellion just a dream or a hoax?
He clenched his fists, took out a porcelain bottle from his arms, uncorked it, put it under his nose and sniffed a few times.
Somewhere in the dark, he seemed to hear Huang Tian's whispers.
Yuan Xi woke up in the tent and turned over and sat up.
Under him was a bundle of straw with a piece of linen spread on it as a bed. The autumn weather was already a bit cold, so almost everyone lay down in their clothes, wrapped in a piece of felt, and spent the night there.
He stretched and reached out to touch the armor beside him, but saw Lu Lingqi wrapped in hemp clothes, curled up in a ball, sleeping soundly, with ash on her face.
Yuan Xi couldn't help but laugh secretly. After marching for days without getting enough rest or food, Lu Lingqi was exhausted. She no longer had the lively appearance she had before the departure and fell asleep whenever she got the chance.
However, what Yuan Xi admired was that Lu Lingqi had a stubborn temper and she managed to persevere through it. He didn't know whether he should praise her for being stubborn or thin-skinned.
At this moment, his expression suddenly froze. He heard faintly the sound of a horn in his ears, which seemed to come from a distant hill. The soldiers in the camp began to stir. They quickly put on their armor and rushed out with weapons in hand.
Yuan Xi stretched out his hand, reached for Lu Lingqi's chest, changed direction midway, and shook her shoulder a few times. Lu Lingqi reluctantly opened her eyes and asked in a daze, "Is there a war?"
She was shocked, and sat up with a start. She picked up the armor beside her and put it on. She yawned while putting it on. Yuan Xi saw it and felt sorry for her. He said, "It's okay. The horn sound is far away. It's not that the camp is under attack. You can sleep a little longer."
Lu Lingqi shook her head. "No, it's too embarrassing."
"I was living too well before. I didn't expect you to live like this every day. I'm in such a mess before the war even starts. It's really embarrassing for father."
As she spoke, she swiftly put on her upper armor and was struggling to put on her leather boots. Yuan Xi glanced at her and couldn't take his eyes off her.
Because of years of exercise, Lu Lingqi has beautiful curves from her toes to her ankles and calves.
Different from Zhen Mi's slightly slender and long lines, Lu Lingqi's calf muscles are stronger. Compared with Zhen Mi's jade-like skin, Lu Lingqi's skin color is a light wheat color, with a slightly shiny healthy luster, and looks very energetic.
Although Zhen Mi also climbed stairs from time to time, she was obviously not comparable to Lu Lingqi who practiced martial arts every day. Yuan Xi's nostrils twitched, and he could even smell the faint sour smell of sweat coming from the gaps between Lu Lingqi's toes.
Why does this smell seem to have an inexplicable attraction?
Lü Lingqi was completely unaware. She tied her armored leggings on top of her leather boots and jumped up. She found that Yuan Xi was still bending over and slowly putting on his armor. She said proudly, "Well, at least he's faster than you in putting on armor!"
The two men walked out of the camp. It was still dark in the morning and the sun hadn't even completely jumped out from the mountain. However, they could already hear the faint sounds of fighting coming from the distant mountains. The soldiers in the camp were all dressed and ready to go.
Yuan Xi said to Lu Lingqi, "Let's go up to the watchtower and take a look."
Soon, the two men stood on the top of the watchtower and saw through the telescope that on the distant hilltop, the Jizhou Army and the Black Mountain Army were already fighting.
The Black Mountain Pass is located in the central part of Black Mountain. There are three hilltops, and the Black Mountain armies of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi each occupied one. Yuan Xi did not know what this place was called in later generations, but based on the terrain, it was located near the three passes of the Great Wall in later generations. The terrain was dangerous and extremely difficult to attack.
If one wants to break into the Black Mountain Mansion, they must defeat the Black Mountain Army and occupy the top of the mountain before they can open up the valley passage leading inside. Apart from this place, other places are too steep to be bypassed by climbing over the mountains.
Yuan Shang had been fighting for this place for nearly a month, and both sides had lost a large number of lives here.
The reason why it was so difficult to capture was because the hill where the Black Mountain Army was located was at a high altitude. It was already difficult for the Jizhou soldiers to climb up, let alone form a battle formation.
Yuan Xi watched through the telescope as the two sides fought back and forth, with people constantly falling from the mountain path and their corpses knocking the people behind them down. He thought that this important place was indeed troublesome, a bit like the Jiange in Shu where one man could block the pass and ten thousand could not.
However, if it really was Jiange, I'm afraid Yuan Shang would have retreated long ago. Now the two sides are still able to attack and defend back and forth, it means that Yuan Shang has made up his mind to wear out the Black Mountain Army.
Although Yuan Xi came with an imperial edict, it is impossible for both sides to stop fighting after such a fight. Now they can only fight Zhang Yanshan until he is exhausted, and then the other side will surrender, right?
Moreover, he got the news that Liu Xie sent Zhong Yao instead of Wang Kuang. This made Yuan Xi feel a little uneasy. Was Liu Xie's change of candidate a coincidence or a deliberate act?
Heishan and Cao Cao had already colluded with each other. Yuan Xi was sure that Cao Cao was behind Zhong Yao's mission. The key was what purpose the other party wanted to achieve?
What is there in Montenegro that is worthy of Cao Cao's attention? Is it just for these hundreds of thousands of people?
On the mountain over there, Wen Chou was leading the way, holding a long axe, charging left and right. Two soldiers beside him were holding shields to protect him from hidden arrows and cold guns, but even so, the effect was far less than fighting on horseback.
When generals had horses, they could come and go as they pleased. Now that they rely on fighting on foot, the gap between generals and soldiers has been greatly narrowed.
Wen Chou was also feeling aggrieved. Originally, cavalry was something that most civilians could not afford. Only a general like him could rely on armor and horses to bully the soldiers. But now he had fallen to the level of an infantryman and couldn't kill a single one even after half a day!
After he had chopped down a few men, he took a breath and was stabbed repeatedly by the enemy soldiers' wooden spears. Although he was protected by armor, he was still stabbed back and almost fell off the mountain path.
Wen Chou managed to steady himself, cursing in anger. Zhang He and Gao Lan had already taken advantage of the situation and came up from both sides, saying, "General, please retreat first."
The two men held iron spears, one on the left and one on the right, and cooperated well with each other. Their stabbing was extremely fast, and immediately several soldiers of the Black Mountain Army were shot and fell to the ground. The two men took advantage of the situation and led the soldiers to rush forward. They were only a few dozen steps away from reaching the top of the mountain.
At this time, a horn sounded, and Yang Feng appeared on the top of the mountain wearing red armor!
She shook the spear in her hand, took the lead, and rushed down from the top of the mountain.
Zhang He and Gao Lan looked up and saw it, and cursed inwardly. At this moment, the two of them were in a dilemma as to neither going up nor down, and they had to face the attack of the master rushing down from a high place!
You know, the two of them were on a sloping mountain road at this time. Even if the strength of both sides was evenly matched, the person at the bottom was in a great disadvantage. As long as he was hit by the person rushing down from above, he would roll to the bottom of the valley, and if he didn't die, he would be crippled.
Yang Feng quickened his pace, the iron spear in his hand had already covered Zhang He and Gao Lan, and was about to carry the two down the mountain path!
At this moment, Zhang He and Gao Lan's movements were surprisingly consistent. They simultaneously thrust the iron spears in their hands into the ground, with the spear tips going more than a foot into the ground. Then they stretched out their legs to hook the spear shafts and pulled out the ring-handled swords from their waists with their backhands!